FX.co ★ Gold prices rally but remain under strong pressure

Prices of precious metals climbed on Thursday morning, but at a rather slow pace, which may mean a necessary correction rather than a long-term trend. Note that on Wednesday, gold and other metals plunged which caused extreme concern among market participants. Today, everything indicates that the situation will gradually return to normal. It is only a matter of time.

The price of gold futures contracts for April delivery on the electronic trading floor in New York increased by 0.47% or $9.4, to $1,782 per troy ounce. It is noteworthy that gold still could not cope with the weakness and has not returned to its strategically important mark of $1,800 per troy ounce. The support level was around $1,767.9 per troy ounce, while the resistance went within the limits of $1,827.1 per troy ounce.

Silver futures contracts for March delivery also went up. By morning it gained 0.38%, which sent it to $27.425 per troy ounce.

Copper futures for March delivery added 1.75% to $3.8887 a pound.

The price of gold tried to get out of the crisis of the past trading days. The long-term reduction has been replaced by a positive trend, but it is still unclear how long it will last. Recall that the six previous trading days in the precious metals market ended in the red zone, which caused gold to lose 4% of its value. All this eventually led to the breakout of the strategically important mark of $1,800 per troy ounce, which the precious metal will probably not be able to rise above again for some time, since weakness remains a characteristic feature of the market.

The fact that gold, as a protective asset, has ceased to enjoy the popularity that it had before added to the negative. Investors are actively sharing a risk-taking attitude, driven by optimism about an early recovery in the global economy. Optimism, in turn, is based on mass vaccination against coronavirus, as well as incentive measures, which are gradually being ratified by many countries around the world that have been seriously affected by the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Further, the US dollar, which has shown a good strengthening in recent days, brings an additional share of the negative. Today, the dollar index against a basket of six major world currencies has increased by 0.02%, which sent it to a new level of 90.968 points. And the rise in US government bond yields only further supports the decline in the value of gold and other metals.

Thus, the precious metals market is now in a defensive position, which it is unlikely to get out of in the near future. Moreover, the mark of $1,800 per troy ounce may become the resistance level of the metal for a long time. Most analysts argue that all upward or downward trends in metal prices will now depend on the movement of the US dollar, which is unlikely to weaken yet.